Timurid Empire
The Timurid Empire (Persian: امپراتوری تیموری‎) was a Mongolian, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Mongolian lineage, which invaded, yet did not manage to subdue all of, modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The dynasty was founded by Timur (historically known as Tamerlane) in the 1300s A.D. The Timurids never actually conquered Persia (modern-day Iran) from the hands of the Muzaffarids of Persia (a royal aristocratic family of Persian, East Persian, Pastun, Uzbek, and Turkmen origins). The Muzaffarid Dynasty of Persia later lost its legitamacy to the Persian throne to the Persian-Kurdish Safavid Dynasty. These newly-arrived conquerors originated from the eastern, or Persian, branch of the massive Kurdish ethnic group, who were thus subdivided into the Turkish Kurds (originating from Turkey), the Iraqi Arab Kurds (originating from southern Iraq), the Persian Kurds (originating from Iran), and the most significant of them all in today's world: the Iraqi Kurdistan Kurds (originating from northern Iraq). Please note that the modern-day country of Iraq encompasses two very large ethnic groups: the Arabs (who migrated from the Arabian Peninsula, or modern-day Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates), and the Kurds (who had already existed in eastern Iraq before the Arab invaders drove them farther up north). Today, the Arabs continue to inhabit southern Iraq, while the Kurds have lost all of their lands on the southern banks of the Tigris River, and are forced to reside in northern Iraq. The Safavids annihilated the Muzaffarids and deposed of their last ruler in 1501 A.D. By this time, Persia was completely under the control of the Safavid Dynasty. However, descendants of the Timurid Dynasty continued to rule Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (Xinjiang, or East Turkestan, was not under the reign of the various Chinese empires at that moment in time, and since the Timurids had always been on friendly terms with the local inhabitants, or Uyghurs, the latter obligingly allowed taxed but unsuppressed passage of Timurid forces through their lands as a method of linking a corridor with their western territories in order to procure a more direct control from their native Mongolia, hundreds of miles to the east), which sometimes were known as the Timurid Emirates. In the 1500s A.D., Babur, a Timurid prince who originated from Mongolia and attempted a failed mission to invade Ferghana, Uzbekistan, also attacked and conquered the Afghan Persians and Pashtuns of Kabulistan (modern-day Afghanistan). 20 years later, he traveled further south into the territory of Hinduistan (modern-day Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh) and launched several invasions deep into the heart of Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali lands. The Urdus and Hindus decisively defeated his Timurid army in quite a few key battles, but when he pleaded for Uzbek reinforcements, the latter managed to conquer the Bengalis. While returning back home to Afghanistan he established his so-called "Mughal Empire" at Kabul, his western capital. It is important to understand that the Mughal Empire never managed to expand its territory into Hinduistan (other than Bangladesh), but only controlled Afghanistan as a portion of Southern Asia. Origins The Timurids originated from a Mongol tribe known as the Barlas, who served as remnants of the original Mongol army of Genghis Khan. After the failed Mongol conquest of Central Asia (modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan), the Barlas were subjugated, along with their various Mongol confederations, by the Manchu Jin Empire of China. Because they resented Manchu rule, the Barlas attempted to flee into southern Kazakhstan. They settled in the narrow fertile valley stretching from Shymkent to Taraz to Almaty, but were driven out of the land a few decades later by the local Kazakh nomads. Though the Timurids were forced into exile from Kazakhstan, the region that they had resided in for less than a century became famously known as Moghulistan (some still name it Mongolistan), which, in Persian, means "Land of the Mongols." Because the local Turkic inhabitants were so uncivilized in terms of religion and culture, they hadn't even developed a written language. Thus, they adopted the Persian language as their official speaking tongue, since Persia was the closest civilization they could come in direct contact with, situated directly to their southwest. While the Timurids did not lose their Mongol blood, they slowly intermingled with the Turkic populations to their west (they later retreated back to Mongolia after the Manchu Jin Empire fell), and their language and habits soon became more Turkicized rather than Mongolized. Also, since the Central Asian Turks welcomed Islam as their official religion due to Persian influence, the Barlas followed suit. Soon, both the Persian language and the Persian culture became the domitable supremacy in the Timurid homelands and in Central Asia. History Timur, the first ruler of the Timurid Dynasty, invaded Transoxiana (modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, and Tajikistan) and Khorasan (modern-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Afghanistan) in 1363 A.D. The Kyrgyzs and Tajiks of Transoxiana fell to Timur's army, but the Kazakhs and Uzbeks successfully prevented their khanates from falling under Timurid conquest. Only the East Persians and Pashtuns (of modern-day Afghanistan) and Turkmens of Khorasan surrendered to Timur. However, by allying himself with the khan of Uzbekistan, whose capital was at Tashkent, in 1366 A.D., and the maharaja of the East Persian-Pashtun Kingdom, whose capital was at Kabul (even though he already subdued them, he still wanted to maintain peaceful relations with the kingdom, as in future battles, the Afghans would provide a significant source of men for his army), in 1369 A.D., he was recognized as ruler over them them all in 1370 A.D. The Uzbeks, however, demanded a nonnegotiable autonomy for the governance of their lands, which Timur agreed without any complaint. Acting officially in the name of Suurgatmish, the present Chagatai (another Mongol tribe) khan (distant family rivalries for power were often very common in the Mongol households), he destroyed a rebellion in Transoxiana (with assistance from the Uzbeks, though the Kazakhs evaded total annihilation again), and invaded Khwarezm (modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan) in the years that followed. In Khwarezm, the Kazakhs finally proved to be unconquerable. However, already in the 1360s A.D., Timur had gained control of the entire Mongol inheritance. By murdering all of his distant Chagatai cousins, there was barely a family of aristocracy in Mongolia that had the authority of denying Timur as their Great Khan. While officially still the Emir (or the Field Marshal of the army and the Governor of the conquered lands, in Muslim, and later adopted by the Barlas, political ranking), he was to be absolutely subordinate to the Chagatai khan. In reality, however, the Chagatai Dynasty was so weak now that it was Timur who actually nominated the khans who would inherit the throne of Mongolia. Unfortunately for most of them, they became mere puppet rulers. The Chagatai khans would continually be dominated by Timurid princes even from the late 1400s A.D. to the 1500s A.D., and their supposed figurehead importance eventually was reduced to total insignificance. 'Rise' Timur began a campaign westwards in 1380 A.D., destroying the various successor states of the Mongolian Ilkhanate Dynasty. By 1389 A.D., he had removed the Kartids (a Tajik barbarian race) from conquering Herat, Afghanistan, and advanced into mainland Persia (modern-day Iran) where he suffered many excruciating defeats. This included the Retreat from Isfahan in 1387 A.D. and the Defeat by the Muzaffarids at Shiraz in 1393 A.D. However Timur did manage to prevent the Jalayirids (a Mongolian sister tribe of the Barlas) from invading and burning Baghdad, Iraq to the ground. As a reward for saving the ancient city from a most bloody destiny, the local ruler paid Timur 5,000 pounds of silver. However, when Timur asked for military dominance of the city itself, the ruler refused to yield, and Timur attacked. The Arabs were able to stand their ground, and Timur was again driven from the land. In 1394 A.D.–1395 A.D., he triumphed over the Golden Horde (the last Mongolian family clan that continued to defy his authority and openly harass his margraves) and laid waste to their capital. Due to his successful Campaign of Georgia, he managed to enforce his sovereignty in almost the entire Caucasus region (modern-day southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, eastern Turkey, and northern Iran) . Only the Russians from the north, the Turkish from the west, and the Persians from the south remained free of having their own Caucasus territories conquered by the Timurid army. Tokhtamysh, the Khan of the Golden Horde, was a major rival to Timur in the Caucasus. He believed that if he managed to conquer the Caucasus before Timur entered the land, he could gain more support and recognition from the Mongolian clans back home. Unfortunately, Timur had already gained the region months before his first attempt, and Timur's army prevented him from stepping a foot within his territories without having his entire dispatch annihilated. Timur failed to take Multan and Dipalpur in modern-day Pakistan in 1398 A.D., and at the Battle of Delhi in India, the raging war left the city in such a ruin that it is said, "for two months not a bird moved wing in the city." Though Timur lost India as well, he still participated actively in its politics. Timur pledged unwavering support for the Saudi Arabian Sayyid Dynasty that had arrived by sea to dispose of the scattered remnants of the Tughlaq Dynasty (Turkic peoples from Siberia in Russia, China, and Central Asia who invaded and conquered India decades earlier), whom Timur had just lost a bloody siege to. Khizr Khan, a Saudi Arab Mulism and a good and long-term friend of Timur's, was the leader of the Sayyids. However, the Tughlaqs held on with great resistance, and the Sayyids were unable to subdue the Turks. Timur had originally planned (that is, if the Sayyids had triumphed over the Tughlaqs) to have his oldest daughter marry the Emir of the Sayyids, and so become royally connected to the Sayyid Dynasty, so that he could gradually (he did not have enough manpower to fight the Sayyids one-on-one; besides, he was still on friendly terms with the Sayyid Khan, Khizr), just as he had done with the Chagatais, obtain total control of India. Unfortunately, this masterpiece plan did not work, for on the day of the proposed marriage, a Tughlaq counterattack launched toward the north Indian territories in order to "cleanse" the states of Timurids and Sayyids resulted in the assassination of Khizr Khan and the murder of the entire Sayyid Dynasty's royal aristocracy. In doing so, no rival dynasty now existed in India. The Tughlaq Turks would continue to establish their mirthless reign of terror upon the local Hindu inhabitants. Heartbroken, Timur and his remaining men retreated back into Afghanistan, where they remained for as much as two long and bitters years of mourning. From 1400 A.D.–1401 A.D., Timur began a new campaign in the far western reaches of the Asian continent. He took a sea route: first crossing the Caspian Sea from Central Asia, then crossing the Black Sea from the Caucasus Mountains, and later arriving in the Mediterranean Sea. Timur's cavalry rode for Aleppo, Syria, but the city's heavily fortified walls prevented him from charging in and setting fires (which was Timur's usual manner of demanding a surrender), and he was forced to contend with laying a siege. Unfortunately, it eventually proved that it was he and his army, not the Syrian Arabs, who were dangerously short of food, since the supply route from the Caucasus to the Mediterranean plunged through thousands of miles of sea, and the inhabitants had a marvelous collection of secret underground tunnels that linked their garrison to nearby farmlands. Unable to withstand any longer, Timur and his men breached the city walls for a opening to obtain their rations they desperately wanted. Surprisingly, the Arabs did not guard the entry at night, and the entire Timurid army swarmed inside. Unfortunately, the moment the Timurids stepped inside the walls of the castle, about fifty dozen archers from the second level aimed their arrowheads at Timur and his army. Timur had lured his men into a terrible trap. The two opposing sides were locked in a deadly combat for more than a week. Luckily, while imitating a fake retreat, some of Timur's best rangers snuck into one of the kitchens, killed the guards, and stole three huge bags of bread and vegetables. After the final battle in the castle, it became obvious to all that Timur was not going to prevail, so he and his men fought violently towards the gates of the castle. It was his greatest failure in his entire military life, as less than 2,500 strong managed to escaped from the clutches of the Syrians. What was originally an entire regiment became despicably reduced to less than a fourth of the army. The rest of his men were massacred inside the dark walls of Aleppo Castle. Timur led the rest of his army towards Damascus, Syria, the capital of the Syrian Caliphate to avenge the deaths of five of his best generals in the army. The battle was quicker than expected, and Timur and his remaining army fled from the entire kingdom altogether. Syria was an unevitable defeat. When Timur resupplied at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and decided to initiate a second campaign, he took the same sea route and arrived a few months later in the late summer of 1401 A.D. At Baghdad, his army lost almost their entire cavalry while marching up a hillside next to the Tigris River, and in eastern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), he again was decisively defeated at the famous 1402 A.D. Battle of Ankara. However, a few years later, the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire plunged into a civil war, and though Timur was still unable to conquer it, his infuence in the Muslim regions of Asia suddenly became more preeminent. Overall, though, his campaign in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey had being atrociously humiliating, and he resolved to leave the unfavorable place forever, due to his ineptness in gaining the territories of the west. While returning home from his conquests, he turned Ashgabat, his favorite city in Central Asia, into a capital for the conquered lands. Timur appointed his sons and grandsons to control the main governorships of the different parts of his empire, and outsiders to some minor regions of little noticibility. After his death in 1405 A.D., the family quickly fell into disputes and civil wars, and many of the governorships became effectively independent. However, Timurid rulers continued to dominate Afghanistan and most of Central Asia (except Kazakhstan, while Uzbekistan remained semi-independent), though the Caucasus territories were lost by the 1430s A.D. Due to the fact that the Persian cities of Afghanistan were devastated by wars and rebellions, the seat of the official Persian culture was now in Dushanbe of Tajikistan in the east and Yerevan of Armenia in the west, the only cities whose inhabitants spoke langauges that were closely related to Persian. These cities later became the center of the Timurid Renaissance. On the other hand, the cost of Timur's conquests amount to the deaths of 17 million people, and the destruction he caused when he conquered a city to the culture, libraries, historic sites, and many other areas has been breathtakingly uncaculable. Fall By 1500 A.D., the divided and wartorn Timurid Empire had lost control of most of its territory, and within the following years, it was effectively pushed inward on all fronts. Most of Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan was overrun by the rival Mongolians under Muhammad Shaybani. He finally conquered the key cities of Ashgabat and Kandahar, Afghanistan during a tiring two-year campaign from 1505 A.D.-1507 A.D., and founded the Khanate of the Mongols. After the Reunification of Afghanistan by the Mughals, however, the narrow strip of land in Kandahar that connected the domains of the Shaybanis (the rival Mongolian tribe) was razed to the ground, and the kingdom was suddenly uprooted and quickly fell apart. At Kabul, Afghanistan, the Mughal Empire (the successor state of the Timurid Empire) was established by the Timurid Babur, a descendant of Timur through his father and a descendant of Genghis Khan through his mother, in 1526 A.D. While the dynasty he began is commonly known as the Mughal Dynasty, it was directly inherited from the Timurids. After a failed invasion of India in the 1600s A.D., the Mughal Empire gradually declined, and came to a screeching halt in 1857 A.D., after a bloody rebellion destroyed the final royalty of the descendants of the Timurids.